Good morning. It’s Monday February 12, 2018 and this is your first early morning briefing.

Tonight’s Premieres:

Pasiones: Saras and Kumud at 5p

TBS: American Dad at 10p

Tonight’s Finales:

Travel: Man v. Food at 9p

TV One: Two Sides at 10p

IN THE NEWS

NBC Entertainment President Jennifer Salke was named head of Amazon Studios on Friday. “What stood out about Jen was the deep relationships she has nurtured with creators and talent over her career, spanning NBCU, Twentieth Century Fox, and Aaron Spelling Productions,” said Jeff Blackburn, SVP Business Development & Entertainment at Amazon. “She’s built an impeccable reputation as a big leader who emphasizes creativity, collaboration, and teamwork.” Salke said while she’s “honored and emboldened by the opportunity to lead this extraordinary business,” leaving NBC is bittersweet. “NBC has been an amazing home – creatively, professionally and personally – and I leave there knowing that the work we did had groundbreaking impact,” said Salke. “It’s an exciting time to be a content creator, and I look forward to being on the front lines of an innovative business with storytelling at its heart.”Amazon had been looking for a replacement for Roy Price, ousted after an allegation of sexual harassment, since October.

SAG-AFTRA released a Code of Conduct to deal with sexual harassment in the workplace. “At its most basic, this Code will ultimately help better define what harassment is, and what members’ rights are in real world situations,” said SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris. “We are going further, however, with the launch of our Four Pillars of Change initiative to achieve safe workplaces and advance equity.”The Four Pillars of Change encompasses Rules and Guidelines, Empowerment Through Education, Expanded Intervention Efforts and Building Bridge and Safety Nets.

During an analyst call, Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer said he felt the Department of Justice’s lawsuit to block AT&T’s $85 billion Time Warner deal was not out of bounds. “We certainly support them taking a close look at what’s going on here,” said Feltheimer. As for CBS’s call option in March for its 50% stake in Pop, Feltheimer said that while Lionsgate has a “great relationship” with CBS, now in talks with Viacom about a merger, “As you may have noticed, they seem to be busy with something a little bit bigger.”

Fox News pulled an online column by John Moody, EVP and executive editor, that drew backlash on Twitter and from human rights organizations. “Unless it’s changed overnight, the motto of the Olympics, since 1894, has been ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger,’” wrote Moody in a column now removed. “It appears the U.S. Olympic Committee would like to change that to ‘Darker, Gayer, Different.’” Said Fox News of the retraction, “John Moody’s column does not reflect the views or values of Fox News.”

HGTV has started production on season 6 of renovation competition Brother vs. Brother: Jonathan vs. Drew, starring Property Brothers Jonathan and Drew Scott. Big brother JD Scott referees the action in the suburbs outside San Francisco, with help from celeb judges.

Fox and STX Entertainment are talking about an unscripted series based on the Bad Moms film franchise. Jason Goldberg, STX’s chief creative officer, unscripted and alternative programming, and Brant Pinvidic (Bar Rescue) are exec producing. Like the films, the focus would be on imperfect parents. But real.

Four weeks into its first season, WE tv renewed Love After Lockup for an expanded second season. Lockup has grown in audience every week since its January launch among W25-54, A25-54 and A18-9, including an 86% boost among W25-54 in Live+3 Nielsens.

Returning to the Oscars production team are Glenn Weiss as director, Rob Paine as supervising producer, Derek McLane as production designer and Jon Macks at head writer. The 90th Academy Awards air Sunday, March 4 on ABC.

ABC ordered a pilot for a workplace comedy from Justin Noble (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Kapital Entertainment, TrillTV, CBS Television Studios and ABC Studios. Project is based on the book and blog, How May We Hate You?.

Details on ABC’s Scandal/How to Get Away With Murder crossover episodes, airing Thursday, March 1: In “Allow Me to Introduce Myself” at 9p, Scandal’s Olivia Pope gets a visit from Annalise Keating, who seeks her help with a judicial reform class action. The case continues in HTGAWT’s “Lahey v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania” at 10p. Grey’s Anatomy at 8p isn’t left out of the crossover action – the docs meet Andy Herrera from upcoming Grey’s first responder spin-off Station 19.

Documentary Word is Bond, exploring the transformative power of hip hop lyrics, premieres on Showtime Friday, February 16 at 10p on-air, on demand and over the internet.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

Four-part docu-series The Men Who Built America: Frontiersmen, telling the stories of trailblazers from Davy Crockett to Lewis and Clark, debuts on History Wednesday, March 7 at 9p.

Telenovela net Pasiones is airing its first Indian production, Saras and Kumud, starting tonight at 5p. Romantic drama tells the story of star-crossed soulmates kept apart by tradition.

Season 8 of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic premieres Saturday, March 24 at 11:30a. Leading up to the premiere, Discovery Family is running a “Pony Palooza” marathon of past episodes airing all day from Saturday, March 17 until the launch.

Comedy Central extended its deal with Daniel Tosh for 3 additional seasons of Tosh.0. Season 10 launches Tuesday, March 27 at 10p. “Knowing when to move on in show business is highly overrated,” said Tosh.

The best chefs from Diners, Drive-ins and Dives who have also appeared on Guy’s Grocery Games compete in 4-part Guy’s Grocery Games: DDD All-Star Tournament, premiering on Food Network Sunday, March 18 at 9p.

DIGITAL DATA

With $2.5 billion spent ramping up its original content, and the launch of a virtual MVPD service, Hulu’s losses rose 73% in 2017, to $920 million, according to calculations by BTIG research analyst Richard Greenfield based on Comcast’s 10-K disclosures. Hulu owners Comcast, 21st Century Fox, Disney and Time Warner invested $1 billion in the service in 2017. Hulu reports over 17 million subscribers for its on-demand and live TV packages.

Almost 2/3 of brand-side digital marketers believe the industry will stop relying on probabilistic data within the next 12 months to 2 years, according to Viant’s “Power of the People” survey, and 32% believe the industry will not rely on cookies within the next 12 months (31% said it would take up to 2 years). The survey of over 250 marketers also found that audience reach is both the #1 reason for investing in digital marketing, and the #1 factor limiting the success of digital ad campaigns.

Snapchat’s redesign, merging friends’ snap messages with their Stories, is so unpopular with some users that there’s a workaround to bring back the old app. But it comes with a warning: if you force quit the app and re-open Snapchat, the new version appears.

Data management platform Lotame announced the global launch of its new “Precision Audiences.” The proprietary and validated on-target demographic audience segments are guaranteed to exceed industry benchmarks in over 20 major countries.

Facebook ordered a dramedy starring and exec produced by Elizabeth Olsen (Wind River) to run on Facebook Watch. The 10-episode untitled series from Big Beach TV and Brillstein Entertainment Partners was originally set up at Showtime.

ADVERTISING

The Interactive Adverting Bureau issued a white paper saying that while the market is still nascent for blockchain, the technology that records and verifies transactions, it “holds tremendous promise for digital video advertising.”

IAB Tech Lab announced steps to support ad industry adherence to the General Data Protection Regulation. The GDPR, which becomes enforceable on May 25, promotes more control for European internet users, requiring any company that processes data about a European user to be in compliance with GDPR. To support companies in complying with GDPR, IAB Tech Lab has published an OpenRTB GDPR Advisory and launched a GDPR Technical Working Group.

Content marketing will take center stage in 2018, says John DeVine, chief revenue officer, Oath. “We’ve talked about brands as publishers for years, but the focus is now on high quality content that’s delivered in the latest formats including video and AR.” For DeVine’s list of 5 trends that will shake the industry this year, see the new Cynsiders.

Primetime 30-second spots for the Winter Olympics are going for between $538,499 and $650,241, down 1.8% from the Sochi Games, according to SQAD. But NBC is fetching $561,421-$676,533 for weekday primetime spots, up 2.2%,

VIDEO SHORTS

NY: Real is a Diamond partnered with The NBCU Content Studio on custom video content launching during Winter Games. Three “The Making of a Gem” videos show the perspectives of a snowboarder, ice skating duo, and a women’s ice hockey team to demonstrate the natural forces and elements that forge both diamond and competitor. “Having a partner like Real is a Diamond enabled us to develop these unique stories, connect with an exciting cultural moment, and bring diamonds to audiences in contextually relevant environments both on and off the NBCU portfolio,” said Wendy Wildfeuer, SVP, The NBCU Content Studio.

CASTING

Rosanna Arquette (Desperately Seeking Susan) and Chelsea Frei (Hostess) have joined YouTube comedy Swipe Right as series regulars….Tracee Chimo (Private Life) landed a recurring role on Nat Geo anthology series Genius: Picasso.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

AND THE HONOREE’S ARE…

The 2018 Cynopsis Top Women in Digital

Wednesday, March 14 th| Espace, NYC

Join us next month as we celebrate these incredible women in digital whose accomplishments have elevated the industry and inspired others to follow in their footsteps. Recognizing women whose roles span from Rising Stars to Game-Changers to Mentors to Directors who do it all to Industry Leaders and Corporate Visionaries, this event is not to be missed. Register your team today and check out 2018’s Top 100 Women in Digital!

With Nielsen’s out of home metric, NBC is adding over 12 million more viewers to its Super Bowl audience, a +12% lift to 115.6 million. “We know that the Super Bowl is watched in large groups by many at parties, on college campuses and elsewhere, so we are pleased to report a lift that is in the double digits,” said Mark Lazarus, chairman of NBC Broadcasting and Sports. Not surprisingly, NBC is using out of home reporting for the Winter Games as well.

The opening of the Winter Olympics brought NBC 27.8 million total viewers, dipping from 31.7 million for the winter Games in Sochi. With a 16.9 metered market rating, the ceremony was up 2% over the Rio Summer Olympics opener in 2016.

Live + Same Day Viewers AA (millions) Thursday, February 8, 2018 time period averages

Gary E. Knell, President and CEO of the National Geographic Society, has been tapped to serve as CEO of National Geographic Partners, effective March 1. He replaces the exiting Declan Moore.

Tim Ingram has been appointed Regional Group Vice President for Raycom Media, while maintaining his current position as VP/GM of WVUE in New Orleans. Ingram joined KAIT in 2007.

Beth Hoppe is joining ABC News as Senior Vice President for Long Form, in March. Hoppe was previously Chief Programming Executive and GM at PBS.

Michelle L. Rice has been named permanent General Manager for TV One. Rice, most recently EVP, Content Distribution and Marketing, has served in an interim capacity since July 2017.

IN MEMORIAM

Actor Reg Cathey died February 9 at age 59. Said Netflix of Cathey, who won an Emmy for playing the owner of Freddy’s BBQ Joint on House of Cards, “We are heartbroken by the passing of our friend and House of Cards colleague Reg Cathey. Reg was the kindest man, the most giving actor, a true gentleman.”

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

State of the TV/Media Marketplace Survey

We want to pick your brain…it won’t take more than 2 minutes of your time.

What’s in it for you? Survey respondents will be entered and randomly selected to win one of 25 Starbucks gift cards valued at

Today’s Trivia Question: Who played the school mascot who broke his arm on Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000)?(Emailtrivia@cynopsis.com with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: a limit of four correct answers from each time zone will be selected.)

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM HISTORY HISTORY DELIVERS PREMIUM CONTENT ACROSS PLATFORMS HISTORY offers a variety of Social & Digital-First Original Franchises, including HISTORY NOW / THIS DAY IN HISTORY / ONE MINUTE MARVELS and the new Alexa Skill, ULTIMATE HISTORY QUIZ PREMIUM & TRUSTED HISTORY MADE EVERY DAYCYNOPSIS […]

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM ESPN Prime Time Ratings Got You Down? ESPN is the ONLY top network up across ALL key demos in Prime. ESPN The Platform Click to see how ESPN The Platform delivers big ratings, big growth and big opportunities for your brand.

CynopsisSports Good morning. It’s Tuesday February 20, 2018 and this is your first early morning Sports briefing. The 2018 NBA All-Star Game handed Turner Sports with boosts across all platforms – television (TNT and TBS), digital and social, including a 4.3 household rating and 5.1 million household impressions – both up 2% […]

The First Tee/FL: Lead team to support quantitative/qualitative rsrch to help org understand lifestyles & behaviors of our target aud to inform bus strat. Resp for conducting rsrch & relevancy of our brand, its affiliates among kids & key insights about golf.

Moviefone is casting the next Mr./Ms. Moviefone: The new Mr./Ms. Moviefone will serve as a face and voice of the brand and may fulfill various duties such as red carpet appearances, conduct interviews, create movie/TV reviews, & work in other brand extensions, like social media outreach. Full details